Robert B. Reich: What you need to share about the ‘one big beautiful’ ugly horrible bill

The old professor in me thinks the best way to convey to you how utterly awful the so-called “one big beautiful bill” passed by the House last week actually is would be to give you this short 10-question exam. (Answers are below, but first try to answer without looking at them.)

1. Does the House’s “one big beautiful bill” cut Medicare?

2. Because the bill cuts Medicaid, how many Americans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage?

3. Will the tax cut in the bill benefit the rich, the poor or everyone?

4. How much will the top 0.1% of earners stand to gain from it?

5. If you figure in the benefit cuts and the tax cuts, will Americans making between about $17,000 and $51,000 gain or lose?

6. How about Americans with incomes less than $17,000?

7. How much will the bill add to the federal debt?

8. Who will pay the interest on this extra debt?

9. Who collects this interest?

10. Is the $400 million airplane from Qatar a gift to the United States for every future president to use, or a gift to Donald Trump for his own personal use?

Most Americans are strongly opposed to all of these things, according to polls. But if you knew the answers to these 10 questions, you’re likely to be in a very tiny minority. That’s because of (1) distortions and cover-ups emanating from Trump and magnified by Fox News and other rightwing outlets; (2) a public that’s overwhelmed with the blitzkrieg of everything Trump is doing and can’t focus on this; (3) outright silencing of many in the media who fear retaliation from the Trump regime if they reveal things that Trump doesn’t want revealed.

Please do your part: Share this as widely as possible.

Answers:

1. Yes, by an estimated $500 billion

2. At least 8.6 million

3. Overwhelmingly, the rich

4. Nearly $390,000 per year

5. They’ll lose about $700 a year

6. They’ll lose more than $1,000 per year on average

7. $3.8 trillion over 10 years

8. All of us, in both our tax payments and higher interest rates for mortgages, car loans, and all other longer-term borrowing

9. People who lend to the U.S. government, 70% of whom are American and most of whom are wealthy

10. It’s a personal gift, because he’ll get to use it after he leaves the presidency

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Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of “The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It.” robertreich.substack.com.